from the DRM-less-effective-than-leading-deodorant-brands dept

Adobe's products are widely acknowledged to be some of the most pirated software in the world. Not that Adobe has done much to prevent this sort of behavior. True, it has (with the BSA's aid and blessing) "raided" infringing companies and extracted license fees. But it's done nothing at all to make its software more appealing to prospective purchasers. The prices are still astronomical (even more so in many foreign countries) and its steadfast adherence to planned obsolescence means those paying the exorbitant asking price may find themselves with incompatible software a few years down the road.

In an effort to combat piracy and lower the admission fee, Adobe has launched a subscription-only platform called Creative Cloud which gives subscribers access to Photoshop, Illustrator, Indesign, Dreamweaver and Fireworks for $30-50/month.

Adobe latest product, the subscription based suite Creative Cloud is cracked and available on torrent sites one day after its release. The torrent is posted on torrent sites such as the Piratebay and is nearly 1.4 GB big. It was posted by an apparently Chinese user. Comments on the torrent report that the software can be installed and works.

Adobe claims the software will work for 99 days without an internet verification (although the Cloud phones home once a month) before becoming inoperable. It also requires an internet connection during install, but blocking Adobe's access post-install and applying the crack seems to do the trick.

You have to wonder how much was invested in building a DRM scheme that managed to hold out for almost 24 hours. You also have to wonder if this result, combined with any issues the phone-home system may cause for paying users down the road, have had any effect on Adobe's future DRM plans. If this crack works, it's like having no DRM at all, which would definitely be a cheaper route to take during development. Any hopes that a dip in piracy would result in a corresponding sales bump have effectively been scuttled.

At this point, pushing forward with DRM would take the company toward SimCity-esque levels of customer antipathy. Server side-only saves, anyone? Grayed-out menu selections and tools that only work when the software is in touch with headquarters? Accepting the inevitable would save Adobe money, time and aggravation. Or maybe, deep down, Adobe doesn't care. This cracked software is building them a future customer base that will be addicted to its software because they got their first hit for free.

from the in-Soviet-Russia,-the-dept-is-from-you dept

Usually when software is cracked, it's to remove DRM or other limitations that were inserted to prevent unauthorized reproduction and distribution. Once that's complete, the unauthorized reproduction and distribution begins, with these illicit copies occasionally ending up in the hands of paying customers who just want the software they paid money for to work correctly. (Funny how that works/doesn't work.)

Ska Studios released their excellent hack-’n'-slash sequel, The Dishwasher: Vampire Smile, back in 2011, exclusively on the Xbox 360. This was the follow-up to the original The Dishwasher game that won the Dream.Build.Play contest back in 2007, which scored the studio $10,000 and an Xbox Live Arcade publishing contract. So when creating the sequel, Ska and Microsoft were already set up to carry on the exclusive publishing contract on XBLA, which meant that the game never saw a release on any other platforms. But that hasn’t sat well with some people, and now a PC port has been managed outside of any official parties.

Barbarus uploaded his unofficial port to torrent site rustorka.net, but the traffic jump took it down. He has since posted it at Yandex as well. The unofficial port is in (unofficial) beta, but is obviously very popular with PC users (or Xbox users who also want to play the game on their PCs). It also has triggered a bit of backlash in support James Silva, one of the game's developers. Barbarus posted this in response.

The ethics of publication

The view was expressed that, with respect to the authors, it is not very nice to publish the game on the PC. I have to argue that the part of the authors are not very nice to publish the game exclusively for the Xbox 360, making it impossible for PC gamers to play such a great game.

About Piracy

Piracy – yes, that is bad. On the other hand, we did not steal the game for the Xbox 360; we released it for the PC port. Given that the developers ignored the PC platform, about any loss of profit for them is not out of the question. After all, if they wanted to earn money, then the game would be issued on all available platforms. If the game came out on PC officially, then this thread would not exist.

Barbarus' arguments defending his actions are not completely without merit. It can be argued that Ska Studios does lose money from this unofficial PC version (diverting Xbox users who now have a way to play the game without purchasing it through the Xbox Live Arcade), but then again, no PC version exists, so any amount of money lost lies in the realm of the theoretical.

On the other hand, James Silva didn't ignore the PC market. The terms of his contract with Microsoft made it exclusively an Xbox title. Again, one can argue against the limitations of the deal or second-guess Silva's wisdom in agreeing to these restrictions, but that doesn't do much to address the issue at hand: how much does Barbarus' port harm Silva and Ska Studios?

Barbarus goes so far as to claim his liberation of Silva's game from the confines of the Xbox was a "restoration of justice" rather than piracy. This it clearly isn't. But it really isn't piracy either, at least not in the normally accepted sense of the word. It's somewhere in between, traveling in the gray area usually populated by emulators and fan translations. The original has been altered, made to do things it normally doesn't (run on other operating systems, speak English) and released to the public.

James Silva's response is understandably conflicted.

“I guess you could say my reaction is mixed. I’m flattered that there’s this much interest in Vampire Smile on PC. I’m not mad about the crack itself; in fact, I’m actually pretty impressed. But I’m bewildered by the cracker’s attempt to justify the morality of it. He assumes a lot about why Vampire Smile’s not on PC yet, and he could have cleared up a lot of those assumptions by just emailing me. I get that piracy is a service problem, but that’s a consequence, not a justification.”

If there was a potential PC market for Silva's game, Barbarus has beaten him to market (so to speak) with his own game. Barbarus, for his part, has continued to defend his actions, pointing out that his port is far from perfect...

The PC version has a lot of limitations. Cooperative gameplay is unavailable, network gameplay is unavailable, achievments is unavailable...

Sorry the game's not on PC in any official capacity yet! The main reason it's not is because even though the game was developed on a PC, releasing on PC and working out all of the input, display sizes, graphics options involved is a lot of work (and a lot more work than it sounds like!). I know Dean was working on Dust PC for at least a few months before it was even announced (sorry if I've said too much, Dean!), and for us, when Vampire Smile shipped, we were already full speed on Charlie Murder. Once Charlie ships, I'd like to try working on a Vampire Smile PC port, but I'd really like to give it a Director's cut treatment--rework some areas, add environmental hazards and new enemies, etc., so we wouldn't really be missing out if there's a cracked torrent with broken shaders floating around somewhere.

And honestly, out of all the possible responses, Silva's chosen the best one. Going legal is prohibitively expensive and tends to turn a certain amount of public opinion against you, no matter how right you are. If an unofficial, cracked port exists, it's not going to be as polished as the original. This weird little saga only adds to the reasons for fans to support Silva when the official PC hits and his graceful handling of this screwed up situation should land Ska Games even more supporters.

from the how-to-react-to-piracy dept

I'm a big fan of two things: vulgarity and people who treat others well. If you share similar passions, then this story is for you. While it's understandable for content creators to react negatively to those that "pirate" their work, Techdirt has highlighted instance after instance showing those that have chosen to react in a way that is more beneficial to everyone. It's kind of sad that, when people behaving kindly to one another (even after someone has tried to infringe on their copyright), it becomes something we have to point to, but consider the reaction of Chris Baker, creator of the F***ing Word Of The Day iPhone application, as shown on the The Next Web blog.

Basically, the story boils down to this. A person on the Xsellize iPhone app message board put out a thread request for someone to crack Chris' app, without further explanation. Chris showed up immediately and responded to the poster:

Hello! I'm the creator of the ******* Word of the Day website and more particularly the F-ing Word of the Day App. First of all, this is a huge compliment! As a person who pirates content, I've always placed the moment people are pirating MY goods as the exact time of my arrival, as it were. So congratu-*******-lations to me. With that said, I'd like to just offer that while I'm employed with a decent salary in the city of New York, I am by no means rich...I write all the sentences myself and find the words to use myself and I do this in my own personal time and essentially for free. Sure, I learn a few words too, but I was already a pretty well-read guy, and could have done without the site.

What's my point in all this? Go ahead and pirate the app. It cost me 1500 bucks to have programmed. It's not even a month's rent for me. But if you think the site is cool, and you want to pay for one eighth of a Stella Artois for me, hook me up with 99 cents. The rapture will be here soon, I could use the drink.

It's just... perfect. Communicate with the potential customer, let them know you'd appreciate their actual patronage, mention that pirating isn't a big deal but it'd be cool to purchase in an agreeable way, and wrap it up with a joke. About the only thing off here is a willingness to drink Stella Artois, a name which translates to english as "sewer water".

And the reaction from the original poster? He thanked Chris for responding and then clarified why he was looking for a crack. It turns out that he has no credit cards or banking cards with which he could make the purchase from the app store. But he said he was so enamored with Chris' response that he rescinded his request for the crack and promised to figure out how to purchase the app, even if his situation meant it would cost him a few extra bucks to do so. But Chris wasn't done:

Sir, you've warmed the cockles of my heart. I believe Apple allows you to gift apps to people, and I'm feeling charitable so if you want to email me your address or whatever in the hell they require to complete such a transaction, I will buy the app for you. I only ask that you give the ******* thing a good rating. I hope this comment thread goes down as one of the more unexpected things that happens to you online. I like the unexpected. And I like making people happy, even when something stupid like learning vocabulary is involved.

Sigh, bliss! And take a look at some of the reaction further down in the thread. It looks like Chris' acting like a human being has garnered him a few more fans and paying customers:

-This thread makes me want to buy the app just to honor such an awesome attitude. If only more developers would have this positive and constructive humbleness towards the consumer, things would go better.

-Chris, I just bought your app for the support!

-I am not a fan of vulgarity, and I would not normally buy or use your app, clever as it is. But your mission is admirable and your heart is gold and I just bought a copy of your app simply to reward you. I'll now delete it, because my kids use my phone and wow, but you know, you're awesome.

-Chris, as a result of this thread I want to offer my body to you. You make me feel like more of a woman than I have ever felt before. I have toys and dirty videos. Please contact me.

Okay, okay, I made that last one up. But the point is, if you treat people like they're people and not the $.99 they might otherwise represent, you will reap the benefits. Bravo, Chris.